following ballad, that Wharton and Stuart fought with rapier and dagger:

With that stout Wharton was the first
Took _rapier_ and _poniard_ there that day.
_Ancient Songs,_ 1792, p. 204.]

[Footnote B: This folly ran to such a pitch, that no one was thought
worthy to be reckoned a gentleman, who had not tried his valour in at
least one duel; of which Lord Herbert gives the following instance:--A
young gentleman, desiring to marry a niece of Monsieur Disaucour,
_ecuyer_ to the duke de Montmorenci, received this answer: "Friend, it
is not yet time to marry; if you will be a brave man, you must first
kill, in single combat, two or three men; then marry, and get two or
three children; otherwise the world will neither have gained or lost by
you." HERBERT'S _Life_, p. 64.]

We learn, from every authority, that duels became nearly as common in
England, after the accession of James VI., as they had ever been in
France. The point of honour, so fatal to the gallants of the age, was no
where carried more highly than at the court of the pacific _Solomon_
of Britain. Instead of the feudal combats, upon the _Hie-gate of
Edinburgh_, which had often disturbed his repose at Holy-rood, his
levees, at Theobald's, were occupied with listening to the detail of
more polished, but not less sanguinary, contests. I rather suppose, that
James never was himself disposed to pay particular attention to the laws
of the _duello;_ but they were defined with a quaintness and pedantry,
which, bating his dislike to the subject, must have deeply interested
him. The point of honour was a science, which a grown gentleman might
study under suitable professors, as well as dancing, or any other
modish accomplishment. Nay, it would appear, that the ingenuity of